My Flying Story Part 3: Ground School & The Written Test

Having Jim as a ground school instructor was a lot of fun 🙂 He’s flown in the Marines, corporate jets, the airlines, and at one of the classes he mentioned flying for President Johnson. At first I thought maybe it was a president Johnson of some company…then he mentioned Lady Bird and I thought, “Wait! You mean THE President-of-the-United-States Johnson!!!”

My sisters teased me that I was just going to ground school for all of the stories that he told about his flying adventures. He is a great teacher and helped me out with severaldifferent things in ground school. When I was having trouble understanding parts of it, he’d take the time to go over it with me before or after class.
By the way, if you ever visit the air museum in Dayton, Ohio, the King Air and the Sabreliner that Jim flew for President Johnson are there 🙂 I haven’t gotten to visit that museum…yet! I’m going to someday 🙂

We learned about airspace, how to use a flight computer (the wheel in the picture above), plotting a course on a map, light gun signals, airport signs and taxiway markings and so much more. We also heard about a coyote who used to race the airplanes on the runway, how the air traffic controllers at O’Hare like to put on an accent for the country the pilot is flying from, a couple of pilots who ran out of fuel and landed their plane in a tree, only for one of them to die from trying to climb out of the tree, and a deer than ran into a plane while the plane was taxiing! I also found out that all of the planes coming up from Florida to O’Hare fly through an area called ‘The Cleft’ (part of an ‘air highway intersection’) which is only a few miles from me 🙂

From January to about March, I went every Tuesday night for ground school (and stories!). Then I’d come home and tell Daddy about what I’d learned. He likes to go to bed on the earlier side, but he usually waited up on me and I’d tell him some of the interesting things (or stories!) I had learned…it’s fun having another pilot in the house 🙂

There was one other lady who took the classes at the same time I did. By now I was getting more and more used to being ‘outnumbered’ by guys at the meetings, but it was nice having Kristina there doing it at the same time as me 🙂 Don’t laugh…I’m used to be surrounded by GIRLS not guys! I have SIX SISTERS peoples! 🙂 Hehe!

I knew that March was when Women in Aviation awarded the scholarships…so I was wondering (and hoping!) that perhaps my name was on the list of those being awarded.

But alas! No scholarships came my way. I was somewhat disappointed, but by this time He had shown that He was well able to provide, and He kept encouraging me to go forward. Like I said before, I often asked Him, “Are You SURE that I should be doing this?” and in one way or another, sometimes in multiple ways He kept telling me, “Yes! THIS is where I want you to be right now. Keep going!”

Remember how in my previous post He had so clearly told me to ‘Be still’? This was just as clear, only He was telling me, “Move forward now!”

Moving forward has been so much fun for me…learning and trying new things I didn’t think were possible. It’s exhilarating. And scary sometimes…pushing me out of my comfort zone, but moving outside of that zone is freeing 🙂

I did ask Him one day, “Why did I go to all of that work of submitting the applications if I wasn’t going to win anything?” That was a silly question, and I knew it, but I love how He doesn’t mind my silly questions 🙂 Hardly had I gotten that question out before He quickly told me, “Because you wouldn’t have come this far if you hadn’t have heard about them! It put you on the ‘road’ to flying.”

Which is so true! By the time I found out that I hadn’t received a scholarship I had:

1. Gotten my medical and student pilot certificate2. Went through Ground School3. Met a whole group of pilots, who are so good at encouraging and cheering you on 🙂4. Had a pretty good idea who I wanted to be my instructor5. Become a member of the Mentone Flying Club6. Discovered WAI, a great organization that encourages women to fly!7. Saved almost half the money I needed for lessons ( I probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to save like I did if I didn’t have the possibility of flying)

I was sad when Ground School was over…I missed my Tuesday night ‘airplane study/story time’ 😀 I kept trying to study parts of what Jim had taught us, to get ready for the test, and did a few practice tests on Sporty’s ‘Study Buddy’ (There’s also an app for that 😉 ). Finally I decided that I wasn’t going to be any more ready than I already was. And if worse came to worse…I’d just have to pay and take it again. I might lose some money, but I wouldn’t die! 😀

So I scheduled my test for April 10th of this year. I was pretty nervous, and I think I took the whole 2 1/2 hours they give you to do the sixty-question test…because I SO wanted to make sure I got the answers right! Much to my relief, I PASSED the test the first time! 😀 When I clicked the last button on the screen and the message popped up saying I had passed, I collapsed into the back of my chair and said something like, “Yay!!! Whew!”. The lady who was there to get the printout for me said, “Were you worried?!” YES I was! And I was sooooooo happy!

A couple of weeks before my test I was feeling really discouraged, about almost everything (you know those days?!), but especially because I hadn’t really ‘heard’ anything from God for a while, about anything, and it was miserable. Nothing was standing out to me in my reading, he hadn’t spoken to my heart very recently…nothing.

Whenever I’m discouraged my favorite thing to do is to listen to an encouraging sermon or message, and just let my mind soak in truth 🙂 I was on my way home from Fort Wayne that weekend, and decided to listen to a message while I was driving.

I started listening, and in the message there were ten people who prayed and spoke words of encouragement over this business lady. But what they were praying and speaking could have been for me about flying! One man told this lady, “You’re struggling with lies that you’re not smart enough, but you are…you’re intelligent, you’re smart, you can do this!”.

How did they know that?! I don’t often think of myself as a ‘dumb’ person, but neither have I considered myself as especially ‘intelligent’ 🙂 And my upcoming test was intimidating me.

Another person prayed that this lady would have peace ‘flowing from her belly’…and I don’t know about you, but whenever I get anxious, I feel it in my stomach! I am such a careful, cautious person when it comes to doing things that I’ve never done before, going places I’ve never gone before…anything unknown…so God’s been stretching me a lot, and I tend to get anxious with anything unknown 🙂

Someone else said, “God wants you to go forward! Don’t worry about the pressure you feel, God is using it like water in a dam to produce great things in you.” And another one spoke of a wall that God was building, and to not look at the rubble from the walls that God was taking down, but to focus on what God is building (like in Nehemiah). I feel like God has been taking down and rebuilding my thoughts in so many different ways over the past few years, in several areas. And he gave me that story of Nehemiah last year, so that was like an extra confirmation. Another person spoke of God moving obstacles out of the way.

There were so many things that they said that just kept reassuring me, “Go forward! God will provide! You’re supposed to be here! Keep going! Don’t be afraid!”

The Holy Spirit was so clearly speaking to me through this message. I cried because I was so happy to be hearing him again. I cried because I was realizing (again) how much He cares about the details in my life. He doesn’t say, “I want you to do this, now go’, and leave us to figure things out on our own. He loves being involved in our lives. He loves giving good gifts to His children 🙂

I also asked Him, “What lie am I believing?” and he answered, “You don’t believe that I’m going to come through on My promises.”
I’d never actually say that, but I realized that it was true…I had this subconscious attitude of, “I know You said that you’re going to provide, but I’ll just wait and see how you’re gonna do it first before I really believe you.”

“And what is the truth to replace that lie?” I asked.

He replied, “I am with you, I will NEVER leave you or forsake you. I will finish what I start!”

He won’t lead me down a dead end. He won’t get me lost. He will provide for everything he is asking me to do. It most likely will not look like I think it will look like, but it will be better than what I thought it would be!

P.s. If you like airplanes, and you want to see pictures, watch videos, and take quizzes…visit Boldmethod.com! And if you’re a student pilot…they have three courses that are extremely helpful, too, if you’re trying to study airspace, VFR charts, or weather reports 🙂 Jim got me hooked on this site…then I got Daddy hooked on it, lol! I told him about it one evening, then later he came to me and teased, “You are bad!” “What?! What’d I do?” I asked. “That Boldmethod site…do you know how long I’ve been on it this evening when I was supposed to be working in my office?” he replied 😀 😀 😀

4 thoughts on “My Flying Story Part 3: Ground School & The Written Test”

I loved this post especially! 🙂 Not only did I get goose bumps…it was encouraging to me with a few things I’m going through in my life!
Love ya dear! And I think it’s really cool to have a pilot as a SISTER!!! Like bro, I eat at the same table with a pilot!! 😉
Anna-Christina♥